GERMANY: Audi on track for 1.4m units this year

Audi’s first half operating profit rose 13.2% to EUR2.9bn (US$3.6bn) compared to the same period last year as it registered sales of EUR25bn, up 16.2%.

During the first six months, Volkswagen’s premium unit delivered 733,237 cars, a rise of 12.3% over the first six months of 2011.

Chief financial officer Axel Strotbek said Audi was sticking to its goal of an operating profit at the same level as last year "as long as the economic environment does not darken further". The company plans to deliver more than 1.4m cars for the first time in the full year.

Last week, VW also reported a rise in earnings, saying that bottom-line profits in the first half soared by more than a third. It reported a 36% rise in net profit to EUR8.83bn during the first six months of 2012 and a 23% rise in sales to EUR95.38bn.

However, profits at another VW group member, truckmaker MAN, saw net profits tumble to EUR40m compared to EUR854m in the same period a year ago as markets in the crisis-hit eurozone countries collapsed.

MAN blamed the results on the "extremely muted state of the global economy and uncertainty among many customers in view of the European debt crisis”. It added that the commercial vehicles market in Spain and Italy, two states that have been hit hard by the euro crisis, contracted by 25% and 40% respectively.

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